LIGATION OF THE AORTA

The aorta was first ligated in the human being by Sir Astley Cooper more than a hundred years ago. The patient on whom he performed this operation died. I am not aware of any other case than the one I will briefly present in which the aorta has been completely obstructed and the patient survived as long as my patient. At the meeting of the American Surgical Association in Baltimore in 1924, Dr. Rudolph Matas presented a case in which the aorta had been ligated for abdominal aneurysm and the patient survived the operation for more than a year, subsequently dying from a disease unrelated to the aneurysm. The postmortem examination revealed that the aorta was not completely obstructed by the ligature. This is the longest period any patient has ever survived the operation of ligation of the abdominal aorta, and to this illustrious surgeon credit should be given for